Despite the cries of it “no longer being funny” or “never being funny,” the television landscape would be a starkly different place without “Saturday Night Live.” Not only would the landscape of television comedy be different, but without the show, we likely wouldn’t have the likes of Mike Myers, Will Ferrel, Amy Poehler, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler among many many many others. Even outside of those directly on the cast, without “SNL” we likely wouldn’t have had “MadTV,” “The Tracy Ulman Show,” “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?,” “Robot Chicken,” “The Muppet Show,” “All That,” “Chappelle’s Show,” “Key & Peele,” and “Mystery Science Theatre 3000.” Suffice to say, there are few shows as influential to the history of television as “SNL,” and now co-writer/director Jason Reitman (“Juno,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”) and co-writer Gil Kenan (“Monster House,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife””) have created a film detailing the night of it’s very first show simply titled “Saturday Night.”
On October 11th, 1975, 90 minutes before the first show of “Saturday Night,” young producer/creator of the show Lorne Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle (“The Fabelmans,” “Snack Shack”), is dealing with seemingly endless problems: his show is double its intended length, his actors, including Gilda Radner, played by Ella Hunt (“Dickinson,” “Anna and the Apocalypse”), Chevy Chase, played by Cory Michael Smith (“Gotham,” “May December”), Dan Akroyd, played by Dylan O'Brien (“The Maze Runner,” “Love & Monsters”), John Belushi, played by Matt Wood, Garret Morris, played by Lamorne Morris (“New Girl,” “Game Night”), Jane Curtin, played by Kim Matula (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Fighting With My Family”) , and Laraine Newman, played by Emily Fairn (“Chuck Chuck Baby,” Mary & George”), are all either at each other's throats or in each other’s pants, his wife Rosie Schuster, played by Rachel Sennott (“Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “Bottoms”), is a help and a hinderance to his focus, his best friend and fellow producer Dick Ebersol, played by Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza,” “Wildcat”), is helping and sabotaging his efforts, and the head of NBC talent David Tebet, played by Willem Dafoe (“Antichrist,” “”), is on patrol and looking for a reason to shut the show down before it’s even begun.
Much like how “SNL” the show has influenced much of television comedy, the film “Saturday Night” has clearly taken a lot from other influential biopics of recent years. Mostly significantly, it wears much of the “unappreciated genius” swagger and quick-paced dialogue of the two Aaron Sorkin written films “The Social Network” and “Steve Jobs.” It’s hard to imagine the film existing in its current form without those movies, but it does manage to hold its own mostly due to the strength of its cast. Reitman and Kenan’s script itself is fairly by the numbers, walking through and over dramatizing numerous behind-the-scenes moments from the first night of the show, without really delving too deep into the through process behind it all.
Ironically, for a film that so clearly wants to pay tribute to a specific era and iconic moment, Reitman and Kenan try to imbue the events with some warm-hearted emotion, but it mostly fails due to the film wanting to have its cake and eat it too. They want to keep the anarchistic spirit of the original seasons of “SNL” but meshing that with a big hearted “I can’t believe I’m about to be famous” ethos just doesn’t work. If they had gone for broke with the emotion or just cut it out, either would’ve worked better than it does here. It’s really bizarre when you have Chevy Chase doing Weekend Update or Andy Kaufman’s “mighty mouse” bit played as a third act emotional crescendo.
That bizarre emotional throughline is not nearly as much of an issue as it seems though, as the film is mostly concerned with communicating the hyperactivity behind the scenes leading up to that first show. When it’s just focusing on LaBelle’s Lorne and his interplay with the cast, especially Sennott’s Schuster, it’s genuinely electric. Even the small bits involving other comedians before their prime, such as Billy Crystal, feel like great window dressing rather than distracting cameos. The claustrophobic camerawork from cinematographer Eric Steelberg (“Juno,” “Dolemite Is My Name”) mixed with an anxiety inducing musical score from Jon Batiste (“Soul,” “American Symphony”) and a chunky layer of Super 16mm grain convincingly takes you back to the era its set in, with fantastic costume work and production design.
Speaking of the film’s best elements, the cast are absolutely electric. Maybe it’s the chance to get to play some of the most legendary comedians in modern entertainment, but each performer loses themselves in their roles to fantastic effect. Particular highlights are Sennott and LaBelle, of course, but Smith as Chase and Wood as Belushi are also absolutely phenomenal, Wood especially stealing every scene he steps into. Hoffman also excels, and the scenes between him and LaBelle elevate the film from a fun historic romp to something really special. Even the more minimal roles pop from the sheer energy and exuberance behind the eyes of each performer as they get to bring these characters to life. The only one that feels odd is Nicholas Braun (“Succession,” “@Zola”) in dual roles as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman; his performance certainly isn’t terrible, but it feels more like, ironically, an “SNL” impersonation rather than someone trying to bring these two legendary performers to life. His Henson performance isn’t entirely his fault, as the film decides to use the puppeteer and landmark creative as a punching bag more than anything else. Ironic given that Henson alone likely has had a bigger impact on entertainment than “SNL” ever has.
“Saturday Night” is certainly a lot of fun, and when it’s letting its young cast run away with these once-in-a-lifetime roles and simply gets out of its own way, it is a positively electric vibe and a truly fun romp. When it tries to delve into something more without letting go of its devil-may-care attitude is when things start to falter, but LaBelle and the cast carry it to the finish line with a rousing energy and spirit that makes this an easy recommendation and a fun night regardless. 3.5/5
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